I have made a new designed on-the-fly SFS loader.
Download: http://shino.pos.to/linux/puppy/
Most recebt: sfs_load-2.3.pet (2014-09-06)
NLS (seperated as for 1.9.3 and later): sfs_load_NLS-1.9.3.pet

Old:
sfs_load-2.0-2.pet (2014-01-22)
sfs_load-1.4.pet (2012-03-18 )
Enhanced RAM mode, multisession live CD support and more. Feed back welcome as the reply of this topic.
Old versions; http://shino.pos.to/linux/puppy/

Tested and works on Puppy-412/421/430, Wary-500 and Lucu-520.
Does not work on Puppy-4.0 and older.
This is still EXPERIMENTAL. Need your feed back in various Puppy.
Let me know your Puppy version and install style(PUPMODE, the eventmanager reports under 'Save Session').

What is this?
You can load or unload extra sfs file on-the-fly.
In contrast to the otf_sfs_loader by goingnuts and to the SFS-TCZ_Linker by jrb,
this sfs_load is compatible with the traditional bootmanager,
somewhat similar with the sfs_installation(part of the quickpet) by 01micko.

Frugal install with pupsave
It works same as the bootmanager under frugal installs.
The loaded sfs's are listed on the bootmanager,
can be handled both by the sfs_load and by the bootmanager.
The difference is the sfs_load works immediately without rebooting PC.
The number of loadable sfs files is limited depends on the Puppy version, mostly 6.(Utilities like SFS-combiner by MU will be a help.)
EDIT: sfs_load-0.9 and later automatically loads the excessive(more than 6) sfs. Some Puppy like Lucid Puppy may fail to unload the excessives. Fixed at sfs_load-1.3.

Without pupsave (like live CD)
The sfs_load can also load sfs tentatively without pupsave, can be unloaded at the next boot in this case.
The sfs on the CD is copied to the tmpfs if the size of RAM is large enough.
It allows the live CD with extra sfs runs totally on RAM, like the Lighthouse Pup 5.02 G by TazOC does.
EDIT: Copying sfs from CD to RAM may not work with Puppy-4.x. Fixed at sfs_load-1.3.9 and later.

FULL install
It also works under FULL install. It installs the sfs as a pseudo-PET, like the sfs_installation by 01micko does.
It does not really make pet packages, but directly installs the files from the sfs skipping the files which conflict with the system.
NOTICE: Remove old PETs which may have files conflict with the SFS before installing the new SFS.
This is not exactly same as loading sfs under frugal install, but works safe and correctly in most case.
The pseudo-PET is listed on the Puppy Package Manager and can uninstall both from the sfs_load and from the PPM.
(Actually, the sfs_load calls the PPM as for uninstallation.)

Save to entire partition
Puppy can save session into entire partition, not to a file.
PUPMODE=6 for internal HDD, and PUPMODE=7 for USB devices.
I do not recommend these mode because they are buggy. They ignore 'pfix=ram' boot option.
You can use SFS with PUPMODE=6, but it crashes puppy when you load SFS with PUPMODE=7.
Sfs_load-v1.2 supports PUPMODE=6, and sfs_load-1.3 supports PUPMODE=7.
But they are both EXPERIMENTAL and i do not recommend.

Commandline
Sfs_load can also be run from commandline. Type 'sfs_load --help' from the terminal to get the usage.

Translation
The .pot file is at /usr/share/doc/nls/sfs_load. Download the archive of the most recent po files(shown at top of this article).

Takes quite a long time to load the SFS, but that's probably due to the nature and the size of the SFS (I tried Skype and Gimp)

Unloading is very fast.
Maybe an idea for a next version: enable the unloading of more than one SFS at once? ( 'Ctrl+select' or the program staying on screen after unloading one SFS?) Would be nice, but not essential.

Would not this one allow Puppy to be way under 128MB and still be able to use big programs? One could even make Puppy very small and put a lot in .sfs and have them on the HDD or an USB?_________________I use Google Search on Puppy Forum
not an ideal solution though

Would not this one allow Puppy to be way under 128MB and still be able to use big programs? One could even make Puppy very small and put a lot in .sfs and have them on the HDD or an USB?

Yes, but it has some limitation comes from the traditional Puppy.
1. The extra sfs's must be placed at the same partition of the pupsave placed (At the top layer or the subdirectory, psubdir).
2. The number of extra sfs's cannot exceed 6(depends on the Puppy version).
Utilities like SFS-combiner will be a help.
Or, visit the topic: Merge Utility for SFS _________________Google Chrome portable
Downloads for Puppy Linux http://shino.pos.to/linux/downloads.htmlLast edited by shinobar on Fri 04 Feb 2011, 22:12; edited 1 time in total

Thank you shinobar, another great gift. of skill and constant commitment
I tested it in 5.11 (my sagelive puplet).

it worked almost flawless, one small quirk. Consider:

Add test.sfs with sfs_load on the fly.
Then open Bootmanager configure Bootup. test.sfs is listed to load at bootup.
Now remove test.sfs in Bootmanager. It will still be loaded.
Now open again the sfs_load on the fly GUI - test.sfs is not listed anymore, though it is still mounted.

Nothing critical.

Solution could be to make sfs_load on the the fly the default sfs handler - maybe use a checkbox to mark if the sfs should or should not be loaded at startup?

From what I understood, devx cannot be used before a savefile is created.
I learned this from 01Mick0, the creator of QuickPet. ( In Quickpet Mick hides the devx-install option, until a savefile is created)
So what you experienced is probably normal behaviour...?_________________

Thanks for the information. I have not yet examine the one by Trio.
From your informtion, they are similar as for the FULL install.
The sfs_load joins the extra sfs to the unionfs layers for frugal install,
means does not require large pupsave.

emil wrote:

Add test.sfs with sfs_load on the fly.
Then open Bootmanager configure Bootup. test.sfs is listed to load at bootup.
Now remove test.sfs in Bootmanager. It will still be loaded.
Now open again the sfs_load on the fly GUI - test.sfs is not listed anymore, though it is still mounted.

Thanks for the test. It is beter to be listed on the sfs_load. It can be easily fixed, I surppose.

nancy reagan wrote:

When I tried yours, it said "failed to append "initrd/pup-ro4" to unionfs. "x-sfs moved to initrd/mnt/dev_save"
Maybe cause jrb's is already in there ?

Humm... needs more test on the confliction with jrb's...

L18L wrote:

tried wary_devx_500.sfs to load-on-the-fly
system freezed
rebooted, wary_devx_500.sfs was deleted.

Deleting the sfs is a bug and can be fixed.
I am checking up the code for the RAM mode(PUPMODE=5).

As for the freezing, i am puzzled. I suspect the gtkdialog3 issue.
Needs more investigation.

jemimah wrote:

Hmm so you are adding an aufs layer on the fly?

Yes.

jemimah wrote:

Would it be possible to patch the bootmanager to do this?
I think a new and improved bootmanager would be less confusing than two boot managers.

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